Natalie Rygielski, left, and her brother Martin, have been cleaning up at the national level in judo. The sibling pair started in the sport nine years ago.

Siblings share love for judo

By Adam Jackson

Chronicle Staff

It’s a good thing Natalie and Martin Rygielski get along so well.

Otherwise, sibling fights could get a little hairy.

Both Natalie, 14, and Martin, 18, have continuously dominated Canadian judo championships over the last few years and this year is no exception. The siblings combined for three gold medals and a second-place finish at the Canadian championships in Saguenay, Que. last weekend, continuing on a roll that started nine years ago.

Martin, a St. David Catholic High School grad, won first place in the U21 category for the second year in a row and placed first place in the seniors category. Natalie, a Grade 9 student, also at St. David, took first place in the U16 category for the third year in a row, and second place at the U21 level.

The pair, which started training in judo nine years ago, didn’t get to this level without a tremendous amount of hard work, however.

The two train with two different high-level judo masters.

One is former Canadian Olympian Kevin Doherty, as well as Brazilian Pedro Guedes.

Again, it’s a good thing they get along.

The pair trains on the mat about eight hours per week, not including workouts at home, which include cardio for cutting weight and strength training in the miniature gym in their St. Clements home basement.

To qualify for the national tournament, the pair had to compete in various tournaments locally, as well as other locations across the province, earning a certain amount of points.

At nationals — the third for Natalie and fifth for Martin — the pair performed way above their typical competition. Natalie, competing in the U21 category, faced women much older — and bigger — than her, earning first place for the second year in a row.

But despite what their mom Ewa describes as “natural” abilities on the mat, the success doesn’t come without hard work and a lot of hours dedicated to travelling and training.

During the week, Natalie and Martin travel to the Ajax Judo Club to train with former Canadian Olympian Doherty.

On top of that, the pair is in a special training program with Judo Ontario, which hand picks the most promising young athletes and has them train with a specialized instructor. That instructor is world-renowned Brazilian national team member Guedes.

Martin and Natalie train with 12 other youths from across Ontario in the special program three to four times a week.

On average, that amounts to about seven to eight hours a week on the mat, plus their other physical training.

Spending all that time together, one would expect siblings to eventually grow tired of each other, but according to Martin, that isn’t the case.

“It’s pretty good,” said Martin, noting that they don’t actually train together because of the weight differential. “We always push hard at training and she pushes me hard, so it’s nice having that sibling support.”

Combined, the pair has travelled to almost 20 different countries for international competitions, including the Pan Am Games.

“I feel proud to be part of Canada because we have so much opportunity here,” said Martin. “I know from talking to other people from around the world, they don’t have the same opportunities that we do.”

For Martin, the goal is to go to the Olympics. Judo, a sport rooted in the history of that competition for more than a century, isn’t going the way of wrestling in the Olympics, so that’s good news for the pair. Martin is all-in for the Olympics.

For Natalie, world championships are more important.

“I’d like to go to the Olympics, but I almost feel that I would rather have a better result at the world’s because it’s a bigger tournament.”

The pair entered judo when their mother decided to switch things up.

Natalie was in ringette and gymnastics, while Martin was in hockey. Those sports weren’t really working out for them, so Ewa called a family meeting.

“I said ‘guys, we need to make some changes. What are we going to do?’” said Ewa. “I chose judo for them because of the size and I saw some ability for them in that sport.”

Originally, just the boys of the family signed up, but once Natalie saw judo, she fell in love with it.

“She said ‘mom, I want it, I want it,’” said Ewa. “She quit ringette, she quit dance and gymnastics.”

While they are rooted in Ontario, the team does travel across the world to attending training camps in judo-centric environments, including Germany, France and Japan.

“Even after tournaments, we go to training camps,” said Natalie.

Next for Martin is a European tour, before the Commonwealth Games in July in Scotland. If he does well, he will qualify for the world championship at the end of August. That tournament is in Russia.

For Natalie, she’s still too young to qualify for the world championship, but her summer won’t be put to waste. She will be attending training camps in Canada, before heading off to Puerto Rico in November.